UNC Asheville is gearing up to welcome some 600 freshmen to campus on Friday.

Freshmen will check into residence halls on the morning of Friday, Aug. 18. Returning students will move back into the residence halls on Sunday, Aug. 20. On both days UNC Asheville faculty and staff will be on hand to help students and their parents with the move.

A highlight of freshman orientation will be a formal convocation ceremony for students and their families at 4 p.m. Friday, Aug. 18, on UNC Asheville’s Quad. Robert Yearout, the 2006 recipient of the Award for Excellence in Teaching from the University of North Carolina’s Board of Governors, will give the keynote address. Yearout, who joined UNC Asheville’s faculty in 1987, is a professor of industrial engineering and management. He is known for teaching freshman humanities courses with the same enthusiasm with which he approaches seniors in the industrial and engineering management program.

As part of their new student orientation, nearly 100 freshmen are participating in UNCA Outdoors’ Wilderness Experience. Now in its ninth year, the Wilderness Experience offers outdoor adventures like rock climbing and rafting combined with sessions on UNC Asheville’s history and successfully preparing for college life. The program began August 13 and will run through Thursday.

Classes begin Monday, Aug. 21.

For more information on the start of school, call the University at 828/251-6600.